vRealize CloudClient Data Collection

Jan 23, 2017 • Jonathan Frappier

In my last post, I looked at how you can use the vRealize Automation CloudClient to export, and import blueprints as YAML files, and edit that file to create a new blueprint. In this post I want to look at some basic administrative tasks you can perform from the CloudClient.

If you wish to check the status of your login at anytime, you can use:

vra login isauthenticated all

Now lets dig into some examples of what you can do with the CloudClient. The first task that comes to mind is running the data collection processes. These processes will ensure vRealize Automation has the most recent information from vCenter, and NSX. When you add a new template to vCenter, for example, you would have to wait for the next inventory data collection process to run before you could use the template in the converged blueprint designer (by default ever 24 hours). If you want it available sooner, you would need to run the data collection manually. In order to do this you will need to know the name or ID of the compute resource, if you were in the GUI you would hover over the compute resource and and click on Data Collection. Then run the desired process. With the CloudClient, 2 commands:

Possible types include: inventory, state, and performance. If you ran the inventory data collection, any new templates, or snapshots would be available in vRealize Automation.

What about NSX? If I am using NSX I can pull security groups into vRealize Automation as well. Maybe you have created a new security group you wish to use, like the template you would have to wait for the next scheduled run. With the CloudClient, know the ID or name of the compute resource, you would run:

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When vRealize Automation 7 first came out, one of the features I was very excited about was the ability to export, and import blueprints as YAML files. Being able to share, collaborate, or document how blueprints were setup seemed liked a no brainer. In order to to do this, you need to use the vRealize CloudClient available from the Developer Center.